Cape Town to be the headquarters for EU-funded tech support centre

STATEMENT BY THE MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND ASSET MANAGEMENT, ALDERMAN JAMES VOS

As yet more proof that Cape Town is still Africa’s innovation and start-up capital, the Mother City has been announced as the location of the ENRICH in Africa (EiA) Centre, a European Union-funded initiative that will support sustainable growth of entrepreneurs.

I’m not surprised that Cape Town was the chosen site: While we’ve long been known for our natural beauty, our city has also earned a reputation in recent years as the continent’s top spot for innovation and entrepreneurs.

A recent report from global research centre, StartupBlink, named Cape Town as the number 1 city in South Africa and Southern Africa for start-ups – for the second consecutive year.

The city is already home to several established tech incubators such as Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi), and Silicon Cape, both of whom are funded by the City of Cape Town.

We have also earned this place through our investment as a City government into skills development in high growth sectors such as technology. In fact, the Cape Town DigiTech industry employs between 40–50 000 people.

The new EiA Centre will add to this setting by facilitating the growth and realisation of ideas and will work its way up to becoming an established business entity.

I look forward to seeing the EiA Centre add to the continued and sustainable growth of Cape Town and Africa’s innovation scene.